An Adelaide woman whose struggle to accept her body has inspired millions of people worldwide is the 2023 Australian of the Year.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese awarded the honour to Taryn Brumfitt at a ceremony in Canberra tonight.
Earlier in the evening, Professor Tom Calma, who has spent decades improving the lives of Indigenous people, was named the 2023 Senior Australian of the Year.
Socceroo star Awer Mabil, who works to improve other refugees’ lives, was named the Young Australian of the Year.
And Amar Singh, a Western Sydney Sikh who feeds the needy and champions tolerance, was named Australian Local Hero.
Live updates, reactions and contributions from ABC readers.
More thoughts from our readers on tonight’s winners
Taryn has helped me to love my body. What wonderful recognition for her great work! – Natasha
Congrats to all you were nominated and received, but I have to single out Uncle Tom Calma. You are such an inspiration to mob for all you do. Congratulations – Donna
What an inspiration and I hope it changes the views of many people in Australia and the rest of the world Love yourself and others for who they are and most importantly for who you are ❤️ – Andrea
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Brumfitt is a writer and film director whose 2016 documentary Embrace explored how she learned to love her body, and why so many women are unsatisfied with how they look.
The film has been shown in 190 countries and is streamed on Netflix.
The 45-year-old mother has also written four best-selling books, and her latest documentary, Embrace Kids, aims to help children appreciate and understand their bodies.
Brumfitt’s films, books and speeches are estimated to have reached an audience of more than 200 million people.
She continues to campaign to shift body-image culture not only in Australia but globally.
“Seventy per cent of Australian schoolchildren consider body image to be their number-one concern,” she previously told the ABC.
“We weren’t born into the world hating our bodies; it’s something the world has taught us.
Her goal was to reduce that 70 per cent to nothing, she said.
“Let’s get this right for our kids.”
Indigenous campaigner is Senior Australian of the Year
A university chancellor who has spent decades improving the lives of Indigenous people has been named the 2023 Senior Australian of the Year.
Professor Calma, a 69-year-old Kungarakan elder born in Darwin, has worked for more than 45 years as a champion of human rights.
His landmark social justice report in 2005 prompted Australia’s ongoing Closing the Gap efforts to address deep levels of poverty and ill health in Indigenous communities.
He has led anti-smoking campaigns, co-chaired Reconciliation Australia and helped design the Voice to Parliament initiative.
Professor Calma has been chancellor of the University of Canberra for the past eight years, and was the first Indigenous Australian fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
He said his father was his great inspiration, and he believed education was the key to tackling Indigenous disadvantage.
He urged all Australians to reflect on their attitudes and their words — to embrace the message “racism stops with me”.
The professor also indicated his battles against the tobacco industry were not over.
“We’re up against the big, big tobacco companies out there flogging off their vapes and e-cigarettes, and our big concern is that they become gateways to taking up tobacco smoking,” he said.
Refugee advocate Young Australian of the Year
Socceroo Awer Mabil, who fled civil war in Sudan to become one of Australia’s top footballers, has been named the Young Australian of the Year.
Mabil, who represented Australia at the World Cup and plays for Czech team Sparta Prague, came to this country aged 10.
The 27-year-old winger’s rise in football is well known in the sport.
However, Mabil also poured his energy into the not-for-profit Barefoot to Boots, an organisation he co-founded.
The charity aims to improve health, education and gender equality among refugees.
It also provides sports equipment to refugees around the world because, as a child, Mabil had been forced to play in bare feet with a roll-up sock as a ball.
After his family escaped Sudan, Mabil grew up in a camp in Kenya before coming to Australia.
A year after he achieved his dream of playing for the Socceroos, his sister died in a car accident in 2019.
Mabil said he felt the hardships he had experienced, and his sister’s death, made him “unbreakable”.
He said he knew he was a role model to many young people, especially refugees, which drove him to work harder.
Mabil has commitments in Europe with his football club, so his mother and uncle accepted the award on his behalf.
Founder of food charity named Local Hero
A Sikh from Western Sydney who feeds the needy and champions tolerance has been named this year’s Australian Local Hero.
Amar Singh, 41, is bearded and wears a turban, like most men of his faith.
He founded the charity Turbans 4 Australia after suffering racial slurs based on how he looked and dressed.
He said he wanted to help people see beyond religious and cultural stereotypes.
Mr Singh began organising hampers for people who were struggling to pay their bills— and, in doing so, helped bridge divides in his community.
Each week, Turbans 4 Australia packs and distributes up to 450 food and grocery hampers for people in Western Sydney.
Mr Singh became known more widely when his charity began supplying disaster-struck communities — farmers in drought, flood victims in Lismore, bushfire-stranded families on the New South Wales South Coast, and central Queenslanders hit by Cyclone Marcia.
Accepting the honour, he said it “didn’t feel real”.
“I’m a man who fought to find his place in Australia against lonely and isolating times, coming to a new country with a suitcase as a 15-year-old — and here am I today,” he said.
“For every kid, I want them to be proud of their food, their language, their culture and their appearance.
“As a practising member of a religious community, it’s my dream to see Australians from all faiths, religions and backgrounds treated equally.
“I don’t want someone judged for their hijab or turban — we are all human beings, we all bleed red.”
This is the 20th year that a Local Hero has been named during the annual Australian of the Year ceremony.
More to come.